[1997-09-14-WCW-Fall Brawl] Ultimo Dragon vs Alex Wright

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The announcers continuing to hype the main event instead of calling this match drives me insane. There's nothing to sell at this point - people already bought the show. But I do enjoy how Larry Zbyszko seems to be won over by this performance. Alex Wright is really putting the pieces together at this point and shows that he can carry a match. He's not great, but he does look like someone who will get there eventually at this point. In fact, he looks a lot better than Ultimo, who seems to be having an off night. I think Jericho/Eddy was the slightly better match, but this is a strong pair of matches.

[Kevin Ridge]

Wow, Savage Garden as song for disc. Those 90‘s. Anyways, at least WCW are finally calling him Ultimo. Good match but agreed that is below Jericho/Guerrero. I do like the Wright push.

[jasch]

Wright has an awesome heel act. Someone should steal it, it would still work today.

[soup23]

Couple of things before this match in proper:

 

1. I did my customary check before this match at Loss' top 100 and was pleased to see 32 matches still remaining. Tons of great stuff coming up apparently.

 

2. I read SK rant about this show before watching this match and it was pretty dreadful. Giving this match ***1/2 stars and then saying they went 5 minutes too long with no rhyme or reason. Again, at the end he criticizes the match lengths. Is this guy Russo?

 

The match as a whole I would have lower than Charles but it was fun to watch Alex grow as a worker considering Ultimo was pretty bad throughout most of this match. I also think having 4 in the booth is too much but Larry taking to Alex Wright because his plight was like his early career was fun to hear. Alex worked over the bulk of the match and even though the crowd didn't care a whole lot (this crowd sucked in general) what he did was fine, basic work. Finish was smart and made Wright look resourceful and a worker on the rise. Glad this was included.

[El-P]

Alex Wright, under any incarnation, was one of the most underrated worker during the Monday Night Wars era. Really good match, but not nearly as good as the Eddie/Jericho one. As a matter of fact, I would put Jarrett vs Malenko above this one too. They did lost the crowd at some point, but damn Alex Wright was impressive in spots. Dragon was having one of these nights, but again he can save the day by working cool sequences (he really botched up La Magistral though). The eurotrash techno dancing act never gets old with me.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW World TV Champion Alex Wright vs Ultimo Dragon - Fall Brawl 97

 

I was a huge Alex Wright mark as a kid. Still love doing his dance any chance I get on the dance floor. Even loving Wright and generally enjoying Dragon, I thought this match was a bit clunky. They just did not seem to be able to get on the same page. There were too many awkward pauses and weird hesitations for me. Wright's offense did not always look that good especially his strikes and clotheslines, which just looked weak. The crowd was clearly popping for Dragon whenever he busted out some stiffness (those kicks to the back and that double chop). This crowd was definitely full of stiffness marks. I really enjoyed Larry Z defending Wright's use of the chinlock as a thinly veiled defense of his own in-ring style. I thought Tony was spot on with his analysis that it felt like Wright did not know where he wanted to take this match. Wright grounds Dragon, but ain't doing much. Dragon is smart enough to time his hope spots anytime he thinks he is about to lose the crowd. This leads to the Asai Moonsault as the first big highspot. I will mention that Dragon totally whiffed on a kick to set it up. So it felt like both were having an off night. The butterfly & Tiger suplexes are my favorite suplexes so I dug those by Dragon. Dragon with a wicked powerbomb. Dragon is doing what he does best: high-octane, badass offense. I am always a fan of finish that involves two wrestlers looking to apply their finishing holds with one pulling the trigger first to garner the victory. Here it was Dragon going for the Dragon Sleeper, but Wright countering and wrangling him into German suplex. This is a good match and I went really hoping to love it because I feel like Alex Wright has such great potential, but I felt disappointed and like these two just did not mesh well. In fact even with the blown spots, I still felt myself enjoying Dragon more because his highspots were still amazing. I can't remember one really memorable spot from Wright (the plancha maybe) and I just watched this match like 3 hours ago. My personal search for the great Alex Wright match continues.

[PeteF3]

I was underwhelmed by this--and that's too bad because I was really looking forward to see what Alex could do with some time in a PPV setting, and I don't hate Ultimo like I did the pre-'96 version. But this really suffers in direct comparison to the Eddie/Chris match we just saw (I know on the PPV there was a Steiners/Heat match breaking things up). The matwork just isn't as snug and while Wright definitely carries himself like a wrestler beyond his years, he resorts more to generic chinlocks instead of the focused and creative holds that the cruisers were using. Ultimo has a few nice high spots but also blows some stuff, as does Alex--I'm okay with sloppiness if it's a heated brawl, but with two guys who are supposed to be graceful flyers it stands out more. The closing stretch is better and I really like how Alex sold the danger of the dragon sleeper. But in the end, Keith's "too long" criticism is warranted even if his star rating isn't.

[Zenjo]

People in the crowd were also doing the Alex Wright dance moves during the entrance, making me feel like a slightly less monumental nerd. Once the bell rang things got off to a lively and positive start. The German's gimmick made him a natural heel and there was plenty of good action on show too. Unfortunately the middle stages really dragged. Wright kept applying rear chinlocks as he had no idea how to construct a long control segment. It brutally exposed his inexperience. Ultimo wasn't someone who could carry an opponent either. They got back on track once the pace picked up again. Decent finish.